Date of airing: April 12, 1997 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 13.54 million viewers, 8.7/16 in Households
A long time ago, I learned (as in: read on the internet) that some TV networks and production studios were trying to create characters for potential television shows, and testing them out in other shows before deciding whether to order a pilot or not. My original favorite TV show SEVEN DAYS seemingly had a few characters in it during the third season, which Paramount thought would be interesting and viable enough for their own spin-off 60-minute drama, hoping to shovel scripted material to willing TV networks that way, as it probably was one of the easiest ways for studios to sell a show and for networks to buy them (since nothing else was being written and produced).
In the case of EARLY EDITION, Claire was a solid-enough character with the potential to get her own TV show and be a psychic who solves crimes during most of an episode, while also going through get-rich-quick schemes for three to five minutes each episode, for the sake of comedy. Do you have a holding deal for Kathy Najimy and you’re trying to figure out which series to cast her in? Well, here is an idea: Put her into a Saturday primetime drama, see how her character is liked by the writers and the audience, and if everything fits, greenlight a spin-off show. Najimy’s Claire had all the elements needed to be the lead of her own short-lived Saturday primetime drama, but this was 1997 and maybe some of the bigger broadcast networks had trust in the studios for them to not come with cheap skates, and pitching a show to a network or studio was a lot harder to do successfully than it probably was before the internet came to be.
 |
| In 1997, only people with money had cellphones. |
The episode was okay. It somehow established a world of the supernaturals, with Gary getting tomorrow’s paper and Claire able to sense the future by touching objects. It’s easy to write this genre into the show that was already fantastical enough because you could easily just forget all about it during the next episode and continue following the show’s proceduralized nature, in which most of the stories that are told in an hour will be reset before the next hour begins. It shows that you don’t necessarily care a lot about the nature of your show and where it’s set in and what happens after your episode is published to be seen all around the world. Plus, it’s simple to deliver a TV drama that looks more like an anthology show when the only target audience you write for is an unreliable weekend audience that consists mostly of families that don’t know what to do when they decide to stay home. This episode was a clear example of that idea: Create a throwaway character (one who has potential for a spin-off show for more anthology hours), waste them on a throwaway story, and forget all about the regular characters, because they are not here to give you a sense of interest in following the life of a fictional character.
So, Gary was supposed to have a partner for the episode? Because maybe Chuck or Marissa weren’t good enough, or unable to be placed in the world of the supernatural. It’s not like Gary never had a partner before, and I kind of like the spiel of Gary not doing his errands well when he also has to take care of people around him, who suck up to him and don’t want to leave him alone, but there is also a case to be made about how the writers didn’t even think of making a real story out of it that was more than just a potential backdoor pilot. It’s the typical “I work alone” trope that you can bring anytime you want, but for some reason, Gary was not of that type and instead tolerated Claire. Maybe because she was an interesting person for him (and someone who could help him in finding the missing baby), maybe because the writers needed their conflict for the story of the second half of the episode. Fact is, this hour needed Gary to have a partner for some reason, otherwise, there is no conflict material for Gary.
By the way, it’s interesting to notice how Claire was fully ready to explain to Gary what her “gift” might entail and how it works and what her origin story was, but Gary was just sitting there, listening, not telling his side of the story at all. She was about to open up to him and he just sat there, silent, not even thinking about telling somebody else his own greatest secret. Although I could excuse that, since Gary is getting the paper for less than a year, and maybe he wasn’t ready to share it with anyone else yet. Especially since two of the people who have come to know about the paper used it for personal gain.
 |
| The scarf is the key! |
Also, Gary was the one asking Claire about how and why, and Claire for some reason decided to be mum about her questions for Gary. Yes, she asked him a few times, but her questions seemed to have been delivered in a lighter “How did you do that” tone, never expecting an answer anyway, even though she should have been interested from beginning to end in what Gary’s secret was – after all, the two were in the same field, and Claire probably doesn’t know anyone else who does what she does. Finding someone like her must have been major for her. I don’t know if there is a double standard at play here, or if the writers just didn’t want Gary driving into non-explanation mode. Someone like Meredith learns about the paper pretty fast, but now it seems like Gary wants to keep his secret even quieter. Maybe that is part of the show’s continuity that you normally don’t realize it’s there, due to the show’s proceduralized and anthology-like nature.
